Smithy
| upkeep_cost = | sells_for = | pre = None | building_unlock = | unit_unlock = }} A Smithy is a type of Town Building. It can be constructed in any town belonging to any race, and has no prerequisites. Its base construction cost is . The Smithy serves primarily as a stepping-stone towards unlocking several other buildings, and is this important for almost any town. Unit-production centers will need it for the Armory and Stables, while most other towns will need it for the Marketplace. Furthermore, together with the Barracks, the Smithy unlocks production of the Swordsmen unit, which is essential in most armies and/or for protection of the town itself. The Smithy has no further effects of its own, but still requires an Upkeep Cost of per turn for its maintenance. If you are pressed for Gold, a Smithy can be sold back for . Description A Smithy is a small workshop employing skilled metalworkers, who can fashion tools and weapons out of raw ore. These items are used for equipping new Normal Units, but are also required for construction and other tasks that citizens will need to perform in a burgeoning town. The building appears as little more than a small shack, with a visible forge outside on the porch, the glow of a furnace seen through a window, and a small chimney on top to get rid of the smoke. Races and Construction All Races in the game have access to the Smithy. It is necessary for almost all Normal Unit production, and therefore each race must be able to construct it in order to produce any serious combat units. A town requires no other Town Buildings in order to create a Smithy - it is available for construction as soon as a town becomes capable of producing anything. Construction of a Smithy costs , making this one of the cheapest structures in the game. The Smithy requires an Upkeep Cost of per turn. Failure to pay these costs does not cause the Smithy to be abandoned - Town Buildings only drain your treasury, so that you have less with which to pay for other things. Continuous Effects The Smithy has no integral effects of its own. It is used only for unlocking further construction of Town Buildings and/or Normal Units. Unlocked Town Buildings Upon its construction, the Smithy immediately unlocks both the Stables and the Marketplace. Stables are required for construction of Cavalry units (if available to the town's Race), and may later lead to the Animists' Guild for more advanced units and better production. The Marketplace is essential for better output, and later leads to more advanced structures of the same sort. A Smithy is one of the two components required for constructing an Armory - providing weapons for new troops. The other component is the Barracks, which provides them with lodging during their training. The Armory becomes available only once both structures are present in a town. Unlocked Normal Units The Smithy itself unlocks no new units for production, since it only produces weapons for their use. In order to unlock new units a Barracks must be built as well - providing a place for new trainees to live during their training period. With the Barracks When a town contains both a Smithy and a Barracks, it can begin to produce Swordsmen. All races have access to their own type of Swordsmen, and thus all races can benefit from having both structures present. Swordsmen are main-line combat units, and will generally become the most numerous Normal Units in any army by the end of the early portion of the campaign. They are somewhat resilient, and improve well with Experience. They are significantly sturdier against Ranged Attacks than they are in Melee combat. However, they cannot fight effectively against strong units like Fantastic Units or Heroes, at least until they gain plenty of Experience. The Smithy and Barracks combination does not unlock any racial units. Strategy Construction of a Smithy is of great importance to unit-producing towns, as it is necessary for any advanced units - starting with Swordsmen and (through the Armory and/or Stables) better units like Halberdiers, Cavalry, and many racial units. Therefore, any town that will need to produce units better than Spearmen will probably want to construct a Smithy early on. This may even include towns not destined for unit production, but so far away from the nearest unit production center that it's better to establish a local source of Swordsmen for protection in emergencies. Frontier towns come to mind. Even towns that require no unit production will want to establish a Smithy sooner or later, as it allows access to the Marketplace, which increases a town's output. As a result, most towns will end up with a Smithy at some point - especially since it's cheap to construct. For races with access to the Animists' Guild, production of the Smithy is required in order to build the guild and acquire its strong bonus - whether or not the town needs to produce units from the Animists' Guild or not. All told, this is one of the essential structures that any town will want to have at some point. It can sometimes be put off for a while, especially if the town is going to become an intellectual center early on, but unit-producing towns needs a Smithy immediately. Category:Town Buildings